ud bslapper wrote:
SO Im coming into a fair amount of cash soon and was thinking whats the ULtimate System ?
Whatever you do, just don't fall for the 64bit trap. Someone will gladly sell you the 64bit chip for $500 ro $900, even though you don't need it.
Here's the short of it. YOU DO NOT NEED OR WANT 64BIT FOR GAMING. There is one game that takes advantage of 64bit. Far Cry. THAT IS IT. PERIOD. And if you look at the screenshots for it, there's not enough difference for it to be even remotely impressive.
Second, no games are QA'd on 64bit. They won't be supported on it. If you are able to find all the drivers for your hardware, you'll still run into crashes and odd behavior with a lot of games since they're not made for the 64bit architecture.
There are almost no consumer applications of ANY SORT on the Windows platform that take advantage of 64bit. If you pay 64bit prices to build a gaming system, you're wasting money you could spend on a second graphics card (SLI) or more RAM. Further, even on the one or two games that now have a 64bit optimized build, the performance increase is negligible and even LESS than on 32bit in some instances.
People who pay for 64bit to game don't understand what 64bit CPU architectures are. They've been around for ages, but they mean nothing if the operating system and the software do not support it and even if the operating system supports it, that's useless if your game/app doesn't support it. Period.
I dont' mean to go on ranting here, but I can't tell you how man times I've heard someone who went out and blew $800 or $1200 extra on a machien just because they thought "64bit" was better than "32bit" becasue "it's a bigger number". Or, worse, sales twits at computer shops who don't know how poor the current state of gaming on 64bit is. Yes, I have multiple 64bit systems, but one is a Solaris box and two are linux boxes. These are systems that take advantage of the architecture. Windows, currently, does not.
Do some research on a good card and decide which you like. I'd reccomend the card I have currently, which is an eVGA Geforce 7800 (256mb). If you can afford it, get an nForce SLI capable board and stick two GeForce 7800s in it (it's a $600 videocard though, so two is overkill). For Battlefield 2, you'd do best to have two gigs of ram. Make sure you get a board with four DIMM slots because you DO NOT want to use 1gb RAM sticks. They incur heavy latency. Use 4x512mb sticks. I'd go with OCZ Platinum. It's really good quality for very little price. Then throw in a CD/DVD ROM. Any brand name will do (such as LITE-ON). If you need a sound card, check out the Audigy 2. You should be able to get the full Audity 2 cards with all the goodies fairly cheap right now, because everyone is trying to push the Audigy 4 line which is, frankly, just the Audigy 2 line with a new number slapped onto it.
Also, if you can afford it, get a 10,000 RPM 74GB Raptor SATA drive. Great speeds. Fast load times. Stick with IDE drives for storage and other things that don't depend on quick access speed (your OS and games should go on the SATA drive).
Another "DON'T".... Do *not* buy Alienware or Falcon Northwest prebuilts. Are they high quality gaming machines? Certainly. Are they overpriced? Absolutely. You will pay twice as much as you would if you just went to your local mom and pop shop (or ordered parts over the internet through Pricewatch.com or somewhere else) and built it yourself - and it'd be exactly the same machine.
Finally - and I don't know how much you have to spend here - get yourself a 30" Apple Cinema Display LCD monitor. I can't imagine playing Battlefield 2 (or Civilization IV) on any other screen. It was $3,200 when I bought it a few months ago but it has dropped down to $2,500 recently. It's just so gorgeous to play on. If you go with this, make sure you get a good graphics card as anything below a GeForce 6600 wont' even pump out enough pixels to run it (the 7800s work smashingly on it though). If you can't afford $2500, go for the 23" or even find someone with the older iteration of the Apple Cinema Displays (the acrylic encased white ones rather than the titanium ones that are out now). I have one of these and you could probably get a used 23" one for $500 or so, if someone is willing to part with it. You could also check other LCD manufacturers for good 23" or larger displays. They'll be cheaper than Apple, but I've stick with Apple for my last two displays because I've had great experiences with them.
Dont' forget to invest in a great headset or 5.1 speaker system (the Logitech e5300 and 5500 is great and around $200). You can get a killer DJ-quality headset for about $60. For a mouse... check out Razer's current lineup (they'll run about $50 to $80). They're the guys who made the original phenomenal "Boombslang" that sold for $200 on eBay after the company stopped making them. You could also get an optical, wireless laser MX1000 for about $50.
Unless you plan to be using your headphones all the time, spend the dough for a good PSU. With the GeForce 7800, Raptor SATA, etc - you're going to need a lot of juice. If you go with two 7800s, you'll need a ton. Go for a 500w PSU minimum. 600w if possible. You might have to spend $150 or $200 for the top of the line, but do so and get a whisper-quiet one. The last thing you want is your PSU going out on you while you're at the office all day and come home to a toasted computer (this has happened to me more than a couple times in my life). The PSU is a seriously undervalued componant.
When you look for a case, get something that is roomy. Maybe a full tower if you have the room. I'd go with something aluminum to dissapate the heat better. For a more quiet system, check if it uses the 120mm fans that they've startes ticking in boxes for the exhaust now. It pumps more CFM due to the size, with a decrease in decibles. Can't believe it took so long for case manufacturers to catch on to that one.
And again - don't get a 64bit system for gaming. There are few reasons and only specific circumstances where you need to go 64bit. Wait another year or two for the gaming world to catch up. Once every game on the store shelf is QAd and geared toward 64bit Windows, go for it and make the investment. Hell, a lot of games flat out WILL NOT run on 64bit at the moment, AT ALL. I believe Spinter Cell: Chaos Theory is one such game.
